There has been a major paradigm shift in advertising in our region. Rebuilding businesses (roofers, cabinets, flooring, and window companies) are now 30-40% of the New Orleans media spend. Ad rates have gone up radically as a result of the increased demand.
Clients are waiting longer to execute marketing plans and are committing to shorter flights. On a positive note, client focus has returned to results and accountability and turned away from the usual metrics of cpp or reach and frequency.
Post-Katrina Consumer
As it was following the Great Depression or 9/11, this entire generation will be shaped by Katrina’s aftermath. How Katrina’s impact manifests itself in long-term consumer behavior shifts will be studied for years to come.
On a more immediate level, there are new patterns readily seen in consumer behavior:
For those consumers who experienced heavy property loss, items that used to be discretionary purchases are now mandatory – furniture, bedding, electronics, automobiles. Folks are making very large purchases with little or no lead time. Yet as dollars are funneled into the “basics,” this same group is thinking twice about smaller purchases that used to be commonplace.
Our area is seeing a huge retail spending boom with the influx of insurance money, FEMA payments and SBA loans. As a category, luxury goods’ spending has exploded as people upgrade their electronics and appliances. Conventional wisdom suggests that this spending boom will continue for at least another 18 months, at a minimum.
Population Shift
The biggest question still unanswered in the region is the true population count. Studies abound, but many of them have larger than comfortable margins of error or sample sizes too small to feel truly viable. Their geographical scopes are usually not consistent, which can lead to seemingly contradictory results. Ultimately, the conclusions are widely disparate, leading to a lack of clear insight.
Arbitron, the Radio industry research company, currently estimates the 6 parish New Orleans Metro Persons 12+ population at 862,700, a 20% drop compared to a pre-storm population of 1,079,300. They calculate that African Americans are 29.2% of the total population, a 19% drop from a pre-storm 36.2% African American population.
Conversely, an Orleans Parish survey commissioned by several state agencies intimates a 60% drop in the city’s population. Their figures suggest that Whites now make up 44% of the Orleans Parish population and African Americans 46% (down from 67%). Unfortunately, their data extrapolations are based on only 490 households who were surveyed, and the margin of error is an unacceptable plus or minus 12 percentage points.
A June, 2006 report from the U.S. Census Bureau measures a 29% drop in population for the seven parish region, from 1,292,774 in 2005 to 914,745. Orleans Parish went from 437,186 to 158,353. Jefferson Parish dipped slightly, from 448,578 to 411,305. A positive finding is that the city is more affluent. The average household income rose from $55,326 in 2005 to $64,122 post-storm, a 16% increase.
The pre-storm Hispanic population assessments ranged from 4 to 5% of the overall population. Predictions now are of an approximately 8% Hispanic population, a mixture of both recovery workers who arrived after the storm and pre-storm pockets of Honduran and other Central American communities. A joint study by professors at Tulane University and the University of California, Berkeley computes the number of new Latino workers at 10,000 to 14,000.
Strategies to Consider in Integrated Marketing Communications Planning:
The lack of definitive demographic information advances the necessity for multiple tactics in a marketing strategy. The good news is that research shows that diversifying tactics inspires more effective marketing programs. Opportunities arise to further secure marketing success by taking some proactive steps when planning your marketing in post-Katrina New Orleans.
Review your existing distribution strategies and pricing, and evaluate which of your products, goods and services are more relevant now that our circumstances have changed. Assess your Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats, and compare this to the SWOT of your competitive set.
Identify and clarify your Brand Voice, which is the personality your brand has to its internal and external audiences (not tied to financial or sales goals). Understand the experiential relationship consumers now have with your brand.
Make sure your target demographic hasn’t changed since the storm. Finally, ensure that your creative messaging is media neutral to allow for cross platform applications as simultaneous media usage continues to expand.
*The full text of this article, including a situational overview of each individual medium can be found at www.keatingmagee.com.
